I once attended a talk given on the “billionaire mindset”. The Guest Speaker, who is a billionaire, said that to make a billion you have to assume the responsibility of managing a billion, thinking in billions, dealing with billion shilling problems, borrowing in billions, negotiating in billions, losing billions and having sleepless nights over billions. In essence, billion shilling level problems. If today, you cannot manage your hundred thousand shilling or million Shilling problem, you will not be able to handle a billion. That level of responsibility is what it costs to create wealth. So what’s the price wealth creators have paid?
Wealth will cost you time.
Picture yourself managing a multi-million or billion shilling empire? What do you think you would spend time on? Do you think the wealthy are busy on social media or forwarding irrelevant messages to each other? Maybe they read one or two but I really don’t think they have time to open and comment on all of them. Wealth will cost you time. What do you need to invest time in?
Janet (not her real name) decided that she wanted to live her desired lifestyle way beyond retirement. She did the math and with a quick reality check she realised that her current job would not be enough. She began shopping around, researching, spending time alone to just try and figure out what business would work for her. In no time she went ahead and made her first business risk. She bought a tuck shop. Janet would wake up at 3 am in the morning everyday so she could prepare the snacks and drop them at the shop before reporting to work. Fast forward several years with several different investments later, she is wealthy. You would see Mary now and want her life. The question is, are you ready to start waking up daily at 3 am?
Time is the one resource we are given equal but the difference lies in how we spend it. The wealthy simply spend time productively. It costs them social activities at times or like Janet they wake up really early. The billionaire I mentioned above, Janet, you and i have the same twenty-four-hour day. Wealth is a mindset, it will cost you time. It’s time to begin thinking differently.
Are there relationships that may be toxic to your vision?
I wrote an article about a gentleman, ‘Tom’ he used to be a banker but left two years ago to start his own company. His social circle when he was at the bank was made of his peers as well as some friends. Their point of connection was the bar. They would meet once or twice weekly, drink and talk. Conversations were mainly about what other people were doing. What somebody has bought, stolen, did or did not do. Mainly gossip and trying to subtly show off to each other. Other than that, they would talk about how bad things were e.g. the economy, government, employer, some of their colleagues, the latest movie… I met ‘Tom’ in our entrepreneurship program and he told me the one thing he had to change was the company. First of all, without a salary he could not keep up that entertainment lifestyle. He also realised his responsibilities now did not afford him the luxury of these conversations. He has employees to lead and pay, a business to grow, supplies to deal with, money to collect and a family to raise. Both his mind and time now needed to be concentrated on that. Talking about politics and the government simply did not put food on his table. He left his poverty support group and sees them once in a very long while. Are there relationships that may be toxic to your vision? That will be your cost, remember you can’t please everybody.
Comfort zone!
You cannot create wealth in a comfort zone. Many of us live and survive on our ‘regular income’. To make it more clear i’m referring to the income you create with relative ease. If you want additional income or above ordinary income you have to do above ordinary things. Like Janet who woke up at 3 am to get a way of earning additional income. You will be required to get out of your comfort zone.
Our jobs or businesses can become comfort zones if we don’t continuously push ourselves. The way we invest can be a comfort zone. There are people who are very comfortable with buying land but will not make any other investment or turn that land into an income generating asset. That would require something different. The comfort of a salary for many keeps them in this zone. We stay in our comfort zones because when we step out it is scary. But the Presence of fear does not mean you should not take action.
Last but not least is obviously money.
Creating wealth will obviously cost money but it is not about having a lot of money at once. How you spend and interact with money will change and the price to be paid is instant gratification. The benefit of consumption is seen today but the benefits of wealth creation will be realised later. You may have money to buy a car today but will have to make the decision to invest that money so that it can grow. You may be buying lunch everyday but will have to make the decision to carry food from home and save that money. You may get a different job that pays you more today but your current job offers longer term opportunities where you could earn more. Wealth creation and consumption cannot compete. So, are you ready to pay the price? Allow me to rephrase a common quote- The wealthy do now what most people won’t so that they can live in a way that most will not be able to. How about you begin spending your time better this year. Let’s continue this conversation next Saturday at the Centonomy Open Day. You can get more details through this link https://bit.ly/2xZm9GJ
See you there!!
Waceke runs programs on Personal Finance Management and Entrepreneurship . Registration is currently open and ongoing through our website centonomy.com For more information get in touch with her through waceken@centonomy.com /Facebook-Waceke Nduati /Tweet @cekenduati